THE Opposition has shown its proclivity to engineer punishment on the nation and its people and then try to appear as if they are at a loss as to who the intellectual authors were. Many such examples punctuate our historical landscape. If it becomes challenging to delve too farther back, then just examine aspects of their destructive actions in Parliament since 2011. One of the first things the Opposition embarked on was to deny funding for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).When a $4B injection was proposed by the Government, not only did they shoot it down, but moved, without any semblance of hesitation, to have officials appear before the Privileges Committee in Parliament! That funding was crucial to the sustainability of the sugar industry, and its withholding placed some twenty thousand workers and their families at risk, indirectly some one hundred thousand people. The action by both APNU and the AFC to deny such funding came shortly after they promised the same sugar workers betterment had they been successful at the 2011 polls.

For APNU and the AFC, they didn’t stop by trying to sanction Government officials for doing what they are supposed to do, i.e. ensure the well-being of Guyanese, but slashed billions from subsequent budgets for GuySuCo and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), among others. Clearly, the denying of funds for these two major corporations could not have been about concerns over efficiency and whatever other frivolous excuses they concocted. The bottom line was to find ways to embarrass the Government, in an effort to sway people.

It is no secret that since its establishment, the PPP has strong support from within the sugar belt. Cognisant of this, the combined one-seat majority situation that arose from the 2011 elections gave impetus to a heartless agenda of the Opposition. This agenda was to use whatever leverage the one-seat majority presented to cripple the Government and inflict suffering on Guyanese, simply to pass blame. If GuySuCo had crumbled as the Opposition desired, then they themselves would have embarked on a vicious campaign to try and show that the Government lacked the capacity to manage the industry.

The same scenario would have obtained had GPL failed, thereby presenting opportunities for intensified power outages and steep raises in electricity tariffs. This was the game plan: deny, hope for failure and then blame with the expectation that such actions would have enhanced their chances to return to government. It didn’t work! Sugar workers and other Guyanese swarmed the areas outside Parliament and demanded that their welfare not be jeopardised. It meant that Guyanese had seen through APNU/AFC’s plan to derail progress for personal gain.

Such partisan politics dominated the 10th Parliament and was clearly evident from their coalition talks. Those talks were only focused on who would get what if they were to win. This further confirms what is already known: an agenda for personal enrichment. This, of course, lacks any concern for the development and advancement of Guyana and Guyanese. In other words, the obsession for personal gains in the coalition talks is a reflection and a reminder of a similar scenario during the PNC regime. Much has been written about that period when the masses suffered while those in office basked in extravagance.

Similarly, without any vision and concern for the development of our children, the PNC Government deliberately failed some 40% of those who wrote the Common Entrance Examination simply because there wasn’t space to accommodate them in secondary schools. They prevented thousands of Guyanese children from having access to secondary education by failing them! To say that was a diabolic agenda would be an understatement! Today, David Granger and his team are working acidulously to make Guyanese believe differently, thereby remaining steadfast to the agenda to engineer and appear uninvolved. However, they cannot hide from history!

By Teayken A. Dhigg